BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A celestial body recently discovered by a Chinese observatory has been confirmed as a comet by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Astronomers at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences first spotted the comet on Jan. 5. The IAU's Minor Planet Center confirmed the discovery on Thursday and designated the object C/2025 A3 (Tsuchinshan).

This marks the ninth comet discovery made by this astronomical observatory situated in Nanjing, the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.

The closest distance between the comet and the sun is 5.7 astronomical units (AU), while the farthest is 14.9 AU. One AU is the distance from the sun to Earth -- which is almost 150 million km.

C/2025 A3 orbits between Jupiter and Neptune, with an orbital period exceeding 33 years.

The comet is projected to reach perihelion, its closest approach to the sun, in May 2026.

Despite this approach, the comet's orbit will remain beyond that of Jupiter, the observatory said on its WeChat account. Enditem

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